Week 1: Whose Mission is it? What Mission? Why Mission?
Christian mission gives expression to the dynamic relationship between God and the
world. It is the interaction between God and the whole world including all cultures,
languages, and institutions. Mission is engagement with these structures in response to
God’s love and grace.
In the NT, mission initiated after Jesus when the disciples responded to the HS on the
day of Pentecost. The missionary nature of the church does not depend on the Great
Commission. God is in essence missional therefore the church is missional. It is a
church because it has to witness therefore no witness means no church.
Mission is responding to God’s love in the world by affirming the dignity of creation and
humankind. This may look like one picking up litter or giving water or food to someone
in need. The church’s engages in respect of the realities of injustice, oppression,
poverty, discrimination, and violence.
However, when one approaches missions what is their motive? The only pure motive
one should have in mission is for the manifestation of God’s glory and grace. This may
accompanied by conversion, eschatology, church planting and philanthropy. Unlike
impure motives which include imperial, cultural, romantic motives, ecclesiastical
colonialism, political propaganda, or to win praise.
Before the modern era, Mission was a means of colonial expansion. It was always
Europe to other places and countries. Mission has always identified with geography and
the giving of knowledge of God to people who don’t know God. This was a distorted
view of mission because of Western to others and power issues and relations. This was
Church centered missions where the western church was the subject of mission and
other people out there the object also called ecclesiastical export trade.
During the Enlightenment, as a result of individualism, rationalism, and secularization
there was de-Christianization in the West. People now relied on science to explain all
things. Furthermore, Christianity’s long association with colonialism and anger from the
poor churches who didn’t receive shared financial resources from the Western rich
nations caused a larger decline of Christian followers.
Since the 1950’s, there was a paradigm shift in missiology. Missiologists worked
together to redefine the nature, foundation, and motives of missions thus called the
Missio Dei. Missio Dei is Latin for the mission of God. Missio Dei acknowledges that it is
the mission of God, not the church. It is God’s self-revelation as the One who loves the
world, God’s involvement in and with the world, the nature and activity of God. The
church is privileged to participate in this mission of God.
This created a new framework for Christian missions. Christianity is essentially a
missionary religion, it is indifferent towards the world, critical of itself, it is not confined
within specific boundaries, it is based on the dynamic relationship between God and
Israel and the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the Bible is not used as a
blueprint of truths, and it is grounded in the universal gospel. Christianity is pluralistic in
nature and character as it is intricately intertwined with all cultures.
Christian mission gives expression to the dynamic relationship between God and the
world. It is the interaction between God and the whole world including all cultures,
languages, and institutions. Mission is engagement with these structures in response to
God’s love and grace.
In the NT, mission initiated after Jesus when the disciples responded to the HS on the
day of Pentecost. The missionary nature of the church does not depend on the Great
Commission. God is in essence missional therefore the church is missional. It is a
church because it has to witness therefore no witness means no church.
Mission is responding to God’s love in the world by affirming the dignity of creation and
humankind. This may look like one picking up litter or giving water or food to someone
in need. The church’s engages in respect of the realities of injustice, oppression,
poverty, discrimination, and violence.
However, when one approaches missions what is their motive? The only pure motive
one should have in mission is for the manifestation of God’s glory and grace. This may
accompanied by conversion, eschatology, church planting and philanthropy. Unlike
impure motives which include imperial, cultural, romantic motives, ecclesiastical
colonialism, political propaganda, or to win praise.
Before the modern era, Mission was a means of colonial expansion. It was always
Europe to other places and countries. Mission has always identified with geography and
the giving of knowledge of God to people who don’t know God. This was a distorted
view of mission because of Western to others and power issues and relations. This was
Church centered missions where the western church was the subject of mission and
other people out there the object also called ecclesiastical export trade.
During the Enlightenment, as a result of individualism, rationalism, and secularization
there was de-Christianization in the West. People now relied on science to explain all
things. Furthermore, Christianity’s long association with colonialism and anger from the
poor churches who didn’t receive shared financial resources from the Western rich
nations caused a larger decline of Christian followers.
Since the 1950’s, there was a paradigm shift in missiology. Missiologists worked
together to redefine the nature, foundation, and motives of missions thus called the
Missio Dei. Missio Dei is Latin for the mission of God. Missio Dei acknowledges that it is
the mission of God, not the church. It is God’s self-revelation as the One who loves the
world, God’s involvement in and with the world, the nature and activity of God. The
church is privileged to participate in this mission of God.
This created a new framework for Christian missions. Christianity is essentially a
missionary religion, it is indifferent towards the world, critical of itself, it is not confined
within specific boundaries, it is based on the dynamic relationship between God and
Israel and the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the Bible is not used as a
blueprint of truths, and it is grounded in the universal gospel. Christianity is pluralistic in
nature and character as it is intricately intertwined with all cultures.
